What did I stitch on that quilt? Quilt Documentation

Have you ever been in this position? Someone says, “I really like the quilting pattern and the thread you used on Susie’s quilt! Can you do that on mine?” You think you remember what Susie’s quilt looked like, but you’re not 100% sure what quilt pattern was used and have no idea what brand or weight of thread was used. This happened to me a couple of times when I first started quilting and had done some close family and charity quilts. You notice I said a couple of times….

There are some basic things that I have found to be important to me for quilt documentation in case I want or need to duplicate a quilt stitching design look.

Is it free hand? What style of free hand stitching; meander, swirls, loops, etc.? What did I use for reference marks to keep the free hand stitching evenly spaced and sized?

Is it a paper pantograph? What is the name and size of the panto? Where did I start the panto; was it a full stitch out in the first pass or did I do a partial row stitch (stitching off the top/bottom of the quilt)? How far did I start and end off the side edges of the quilt? How many rows of design are down the quilt?

Is it a digital stitch design? What size is the individual design? How many repeats? What is the spacing between the repeats? Where did I start the design – off the side edge, over the top edge? How many rows of design are down the quilt?

Is it an edge to edge pattern or a block by block pattern? Are there borders? If multiple borders, is each one stitched differently or were they combined?

3. What thread/threads were used? (Defining information for the top and the bobbin.)

4. It can be done digitally. Create a document form to write in all the information and also add digital pictures.

5. It can be documented by hand in a notebook. Include all of the written documentation and add a sketch of the quilt design.

If print pictures of the quilt design they can be added to the notebook.

Clear, plastic 3-ring binder sleeves can be used to store quilt documentation notes and printed pictures. The 3-ring binder size can grow with your documentation or you can use divider tabs to section your creations into years or categories.

I often sketch stitching designs on graph paper and I like to include those sketches with the quilt documentation. The plastic sleeves work well for this.

The documentation process doesn’t take that long once you decide what information you want to have for reference. And, it can save time and frustration if you want to re-create a previous masterpiece!